General Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
"Entertaining" an Adjective, noun or a verb?

To all grammar masters,

Regarding the following sentence, "He was entertaining his friends", is the word "entertainig" an adjective, verb or a noun?

1) I think it's adjective because it seems like it's modifying "He". He was (=) entertaining.

2) It can't be a verb because of "was" which is a verb. I don't think verb of "was" is auxiliary verb in this case. It looks like a "was" is a main verb.

3) It MAY be a noun? Which means it's a gerund form which has been changed from verb of "entertain" to noun by adding -ing "entertaining"

Is my thinking/thought correct? Thank you!!

Re: "Entertaining" an Adjective, noun or a verb?

Let’s look at each of your possibilities:

1) I think it's adjective because it seems like it's modifying "He". He was (=) entertaining.

Remember the sentence I wrote in your previous post:
“He is happy.”
When it is an adjective, we can IMAGINE the sentence as being:
“He is a happy man.”

So, if we do the same with ‘entertaining ‘ as an adjective:
“He was an entertaining man his friends.”

The sentence doesn’t make sense. Which is it? ‘He was an entertaining man” or “He was his friends.” The words ‘his friends’ don’t fit into the meaning of the sentence.


2) It MAY be a noun? Which means it's a gerund form which has been changed from verb of "entertain" to noun by adding -ing "entertaining"

If so, then we have the construction:
He was noun + possessive pronoun + noun !

Again, ‘his friends’ doesn’t make sense in the sentence; and why doesn’t ‘entertaining’ have an article before it? as in:
‘He was an entertaining/He was the entertaining.’
We can understand:
“He was a teacher.” But ‘was an entertaining’?
In fact, the dictionary has no entry for ‘entertaining’ as a noun.

3) It can't be a verb because of "was" which is a verb. I don't think verb of "was" is auxiliary verb in this case. It looks like a "was" is a main verb.

If ‘was’ is the main verb, then ‘entertaining’ should be an adjective or a gerund; but we have just seen it is neither.

Look at this sentence:
“He entertained his friends.”
Here, ‘his friends’ makes sense as the Direct Object in the sentence.

Now – remember that the Past Progressive tense is formed:
was/were + bare infinitive+-ing

So – we see that ‘was entertaining’ is the Past Progressive verb form, and that ‘his friends’ is its Direct Object.

Re: "Entertaining" an Adjective, noun or a verb?

Grammar Monster Team
Let’s look at each of your possibilities:

1) I think it's adjective because it seems like it's modifying "He". He was (=) entertaining.

Remember the sentence I wrote in your previous post:
“He is happy.”
When it is an adjective, we can IMAGINE the sentence as being:
“He is a happy man.”

So, if we do the same with ‘entertaining ‘ as an adjective:
“He was an entertaining man his friends.”

The sentence doesn’t make sense. Which is it? ‘He was an entertaining man” or “He was his friends.” The words ‘his friends’ don’t fit into the meaning of the sentence.


2) It MAY be a noun? Which means it's a gerund form which has been changed from verb of "entertain" to noun by adding -ing "entertaining"

If so, then we have the construction:
He was noun + possessive pronoun + noun !

Again, ‘his friends’ doesn’t make sense in the sentence; and why doesn’t ‘entertaining’ have an article before it? as in:
‘He was an entertaining/He was the entertaining.’
We can understand:
“He was a teacher.” But ‘was an entertaining’?
In fact, the dictionary has no entry for ‘entertaining’ as a noun.

3) It can't be a verb because of "was" which is a verb. I don't think verb of "was" is auxiliary verb in this case. It looks like a "was" is a main verb.

If ‘was’ is the main verb, then ‘entertaining’ should be an adjective or a gerund; but we have just seen it is neither.

Look at this sentence:
“He entertained his friends.”
Here, ‘his friends’ makes sense as the Direct Object in the sentence.

Now – remember that the Past Progressive tense is formed:
was/were + bare infinitive+-ing

So – we see that ‘was entertaining’ is the Past Progressive verb form, and that ‘his friends’ is its Direct Object.


Wow, i really appreciate your response!! You made me realize the importance of tenses, which is frankly one of my weak areas.